Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): Today I rise to talk about aircraft noise in Western Australia. Airservices Australia has come in for criticism in the past seven years for the way they have handled Perth flight path communications, and today I must rise to criticise them again for an astonishing decision to cancel the publicly announced trial in Perth of noise improvements before it has even begun. On 6 March this year Airservices announced:

A further noise improvement opportunity to be trialled in 2015 at Perth will provide night-time noise respite to residents living in south-west Perth along the Swan river. The trial will see the departure flight path amended so aircraft will fly further to the south towards the Jandakot area until they reach 8,000 feet before turning to the north.

I have been lobbying for improvements to Perth Airport noise since 2008, including noise-sharing arrangements such as these. This announcement was so well received by the people of my electorate that at a community meeting in South Perth 200 people stood and applauded. But incredibly on Friday, 7 August 2015, Airservices put out a press release entitled 'No change to night-time flights at Perth Airport', cancelling the trial before it had even begun, without consulting the community or any of its members of parliament. I have met with Airservices Australia since to convey the anger of the people of Swan for this breach of faith, and I want to assure the people of Swan, Tangney, Hasluck and Pearce that I will fight, along with my fellow MPs, to ensure the trial of the night-time respite is reinstated.